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A 51-second video on the social media platform TikTok in August shows how Strawberry con Lechera paletas are made at The Paleta Bar.
The user, vegasmusttry, a food reviewer in Las Vegas, Nevada, racked up more than 250,000 likes and more than 9,000 shares with the video.
“This whole process had me fascinated,” the user says, as he goes on to talk about the customization that can take place with these paletas.
In a separate TikTok video from user hookedlv in July, he samples the pistachio paleta dipped in dark chocolate with extra pistachio crumbs. The video is just 21 seconds long, but it gained more than 100,000 likes.
The videos, while popular, don’t detail much about the company behind the success of these paletas, a Mexican-style popsicle that has grown in popularity in recent years. But they are essentially advertisements for Paleta Bar, a company founded just over six years ago in Albuquerque that has experienced a meteoric rise.
Social media marketing is just one aspect of the Paleta Bar’s success. The founders of Paleta Bar — Dipo Alam, 34; Juan Estala, 34; and Joel Marquez, 35 — have also made it clear that establishing a strong brand, consistent recipes, and a welcoming atmosphere are key aspects of the business’ growth.
In just a short amount of time, they have taken Paleta Bar to new heights. The Paleta Bar has franchised out into 36 locations across eight states, with 16 of those in New Mexico.
“We always want to aim high in terms of who we are and what we do — and we just gotta keep shooting for the stars,” said Alam, who also runs many other Albuquerque favorites, including the Potato Corner, Spring Rollin’ and Pho Kup. “We want to create a big legacy name from Albuquerque, New Mexico.”
Early going
Originally from Indonesia, Alam moved to California to play soccer, but eventually started working at Potato Corner, where he ultimately managed more than two dozens stands across the states.
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But he wasn’t satisfied. So he moved to Albuquerque in 2012 to run the first Potato Corner in the city.
“I saw the potential and I decided to move here to kind of run it with the opportunity of finally becoming the owner,” he said.
Estala and Marquez, whose family owns three La Michoacana De Paquime locations in the city, had worked from very young ages with paletas. By 17, Estala was running a location of his own. Marquez took one over at age 20.
Alam didn’t have the same experience in making paletas as they did. But he was a fan.
After his move to Albuquerque, he found himself frequenting the La Michoacana on Central Avenue near Coors Boulevard. He would go in about once a week and buy a bunch of snacks and paletas.
That’s when he met Marquez, who was running the shop at the time.
“We just started talking and before we knew it, we were talking about partnering up and starting something ourselves,” Marquez said.
The group eventually formed and they shaped their roles into reality: Alam would focus on branding and marketing; Estala would focus on the recipes and the development of their products; and Marquez would focus on construction and expansion.
Those base recipes — the strawberry, horchata and other paletas — came from La Michoacana. Marquez, Alam and Estala just “elevated” those recipes, allowing customers to create unique Mexican popsicles that can be dipped in different types of chocolate and garnished with anything from fruits to Fruity Pebbles to chili powder.
And those twists came from research. The group traveled to places such as Miami and Guadalajara, Mexico, to find out how to create the best paletas possible. They learned how to create their own creams for the paletas, finding the perfect mixture of sugar and milk that becomes the base of a paleta itself.
“We have one person at the office that puts the formula in the computer and then we try it at another store,” Marquez said. “If we like it, OK, we like the paleta.”
Store growth
The trio opened their first Paleta Bar in Albuquerque in June 2017. The location, at 2325 San Pedro NE, was followed by another shop at 6241 Riverside Plaza NW on Albuquerque’s West Side.
The third Paleta Bar opened a couple of weeks later in Cottonwood Mall. Their next would come a year later in San Diego.
While other restaurants were struggling during COVID, the number of Paleta Bars exploded.
Alam, Marquez and Estala found their growth through franchising — bringing small business-oriented people into the fold to open shops of their own in the states in which they live.
That’s something that happened in San Diego and the many other states — including Utah, Arizona, Kansas and Nevada — where Paleta Bar locations now exist.
Think of their franchising efforts like McDonald’s, just without the distribution network. Instead, they share their recipes — like the cream — with the owners of the Paleta Bar locations. They also make sure that those standard recipes remain consistent, a key point that has helped the company continue to grow.
Marketing a brand
Paleta Bar in Albuquerque has become synonymous with the icy and sugary snack.
But there were other long-established businesses like La Michoacana — which is popular with the city’s Mexican population — that paved the way for Paleta Bar to gain a foothold in the market and rapidly expand.
Marquez and Estala said they wanted to create an environment that was more welcoming to people of other races, ethnicities and backgrounds.
So the menu, entirely in English, allows customers to know exactly what they are purchasing. The stores themselves feature splashes of color — an ode to other paleta stores — that are mixed with modern upgrades.
But it is in social media where Paleta Bar truly shines — and where much of its growth can be attributed. To date, across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, Paleta Bar — whether through company profiles or foodies testing out the paletas those spots — has amassed millions of views and interactions.
Alam said that has been a priority for the business from the start. In working with new franchise owners, Alam impresses upon them the importance of having an online presence by creating profiles on these social media apps that garner mass engagement.
“We’re really big in terms of marketing,” Alam said. “But again, we just have to see what kind of marketing that’s gonna fit with their store.”
Sometimes what fits is partnering with a local “foodie” or someone with a presence online, an effort that has paid off in growing the brand.
“We started contacting foodies,” he said. “That’s why we partner up here locally, like with the UNM Lobos right now, we partnered with New Mexico United in the past. We got a couple of local fighters. …The last time I was in Vegas I connected them with one of the foodies too.”
Looking ahead
The fast rise of Paleta Bar has meant the future means the company is looking to slow down a bit on adding new stores as it did in the last couple of years.
The trio said their current focus is on maintaining the brand from marketing to the recipes. But it doesn’t mean a couple of locations aren’t in mind — or in the works.
A Paleta Bar is expected to open in Amarillo, Texas, in the next two weeks. And the group has considered locations in Chicago and Florida.
While they were confident in what they were capable of, the group said they didn’t expect to grow this fast. But they are grateful for where they’re at and for what the future will bring.
“I’m terrible about envisioning the future,” said Marquez, who also runs the bustling Tap N Taco in Rio Rancho with Estala and other business partners. “No, I couldn’t imagine this.”
Added Estala: “To be honest, it was surprising for me. One day we had one location, the next we had two locations. Now we have 36 locations. It was unexpected for me.”
